The Mind Tools Content Team

How to Be Ethical at Work

Making the Right Call For You and Your Team

Did you ever do something at work that went against your instincts or "better judgment"?

You may have "tweaked" a set of figures to enhance the quality of your performance or "overlooked" a borderline test result on a project. Or, maybe you just used the last of the coffee in the office kitchen and didn't replace it.

Most of us will have committed at least one small "sin" that we felt bad about. And, it's possible that our behavior could be regarded as unethical on occasion.

Ethics are the principles that govern the conduct of individuals or groups. They are the rules that tell you how you should behave. Simply put, if you do the right thing, your behavior is ethical. If not, it's likely unethical.

And your personal ethics reflect your core values. They are the things that matter to you, such as honesty and integrity. They guide how you want to live, so that you remain true to yourself and to your employer.

In this article, we look at how easy it is to fall into unethical behavior, and we focus on how to make good, ethical decisions and to build an ethical team.